Language-based computer generated instructional material

ABSTRACT

A learning system includes a plurality of teacher and student stations for holding one or more learning sessions between a teacher and one or more students. A server serves instructional material for creating a learning environment during the learning session, and a database stores at least one of teacher and student attributes that relate to language ability. In the present invention, the instructional material is a computer generated instructional material that is produced based on the language ability of the student or the teacher.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application 1) is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/678,030 filed Oct. 3, 2000, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/275,793, filed Mar.25, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,148, which is a continuation ofPCT/US97/16672, filed Sep. 24, 1997, and claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/026,680, filed Sep. 25,1996, 2) is a continuation-in-part of PCT/US01/28645 filed Sep. 14,2001, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSerial No. 60/233,061, filed Sep. 14, 2000, and 3) claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/328,445 filed Oct. 12,2001, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] This invention generally relates to a learning system and methodfor engaging in interactive and non-interactive learning sessions andmore particularly to a learning system and method that is implementedover a network, such as the Internet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] In education, various advantages of using private teachers togive individual attention to accommodate each student's skill,educational goals and background are well known. Students can excel andimprove immensely from the individual attention given. However, thecosts involved including the cost of hiring private teachers and thecost of performing various tests/assessments of the student's skill,educational goals and background in designing individualized curriculummake the private teacher approach too expensive for most students.

[0004] Many conventional educational systems attempt to personalizelearning sessions for students and avoid the cost of employing privatetutors by using computer programs in place of actual teachers. However,these systems have gone too far in automating educational processes andconsequently have been shown to be too automated and lacking thenecessary involvement by actual teachers to make the systems effective.

[0005] For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,950 issued to Cook et al.discloses a system for interactive, adaptive and individualizedcomputer-assisted instruction. The system delivers interactive,adaptive, and individualized homework to students in their homes andother locations. An agent becomes a virtual tutor acting as a student'spersonal and individualized tutor. The agent is individualized to eachstudent and formed by the functioning of agent software with studentdata object. The student data object stores characteristics of thestudent and assignments set by the teachers and administrators.

[0006] Teachers use the system to perform such functions as enteringinitial profiles in student data objects, assigning students tosubgroups, previewing, annotating and scheduling assignments, reviewingand commenting on completed homework assignments, and reviewing summaryreports. Important teacher activities are as follows: the teachercontrols the access and level of tools available to the student andlimits the extent to which the student can alter agent personae; theteacher controls the student's use of the system by assigning,scheduling, and prioritizing the student's access to the instructionalmaterial; the teacher can customize material available to the studentsby modifying sequencing of instructional lessons, choosing the homeworkthe student must complete, and sending messages to students; and theteacher's class management is aided by a facility to send messages,reminders, hints, etc., to students using email facilities.

[0007] A teacher can also add comments, if student homework is viewed online by teacher. Email and newsgroups are used by teachers,non-interactively, to send information to their classes, such asschedule and material changes. Students can communicate with theirteachers, and share work or interests with other students.

[0008] U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,485 issued to Siefert discloses acomputer-assisted education where an INTELLIGENT ADMINISTRATOR, whichtakes the form of a system of programs and computer objects, organizesinstructional activity, selects the proper lessons for each session, andadministers examinations to the students. A given lesson is presented insuccessive, different ways, if the student does not master the lessonthe first time. A help screen is available at any point during aninstructional unit and allows a student to change skill levels, learningstyles, request another explanation, and request a conference with ateacher. When the request for a conference is selected, the student isconnected to a live videoconference with a teacher. A live conferenceoption with subject matter experts makes it possible for a student whohas mastered the unit but who is curious about tangential or deeperlevels of the material to ask questions while his or her interest isstill fresh.

[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 6,064,856 issued to Lee et al. discloses a learningsystem where all student workstations are in constant communication witha teacher's workstation via a LAN interface and local area network.Real-time communication between a student workstation and a teacherworkstation allows the teacher to be informed of the student's progressand activities as well as allowing the teacher to tailor instructionalprograms for each student. The teacher can select material, includingtext, illustrations, length of lesson and questions to be answered, tocomprise the courseware for a subject. Assignment process is controlledby the CPU of the teacher's station which downloads the control programscorresponding to the lesson segments selected by the teacher and/or asystem program from the hard drive or other storage device of theteacher's workstation to the selected student's station.

[0010] After a predetermined number of tries, if the student still failsto grasp the material and answers some questions incorrectly, the systemwill send a message to the teacher's workstation indicating whichmaterial the student is having problems with. The teacher can then usehis or her own methods to personally help the student to grasp thematerial.

[0011] U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,520 issued to Hamilton discloses acomputer-assisted instruction system for a classroom which allows ateacher to share an electronic sheet of paper with one or more studentsin the classroom, enabling both the teacher and a student to write onthe same sheet virtually simultaneously from different parts of theroom. As a student physically writes on the surface of his monitor withthe stylus, the image that is written not only appears on that student'sdisplay, but is also transmitted simultaneously to the teacher'sstation. When the teacher touches the screen where an icon for a studentappears, the teacher and the student can begin hand-writtenscreen-sharing communication.

[0012] U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,491 issued to Abrahamson et al. discloses alearning system for enabling teachers to teach students concepts and toreceive immediate feedback regarding how well the student have learnedthe concepts. Students have a keyboard system to enable them to respondin a narrative fashion to questions posed to an entire class and theteacher is able to receive the responses individually as they are storedby the system at a central computer. If a relatively low percentage ofstudents, as determined by the teacher, seem to be understanding theconcept being taught, the teacher may choose to assign additional workto students, or may take remedial actions.

[0013] U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,132 issued to Corder discloses a system forreducing illiteracy of individuals by using computer technology tointegrate multi-sensory stimuli for synthesis of individualizedinstruction, evaluation, and prescription for advancement ofcommunications skills. The system will accept input from the teacher tocontrol lesson scope and sequence and alternatively, the system itselfcontains decision rules to determine student needs based on theevaluation of system provided graded stimuli and matching studentresponses. If directed by the teacher, the system, through its speechsynthesizer, encourages the student to use the available systemresource, such as a touch screen, to trace the phonogram on the screen.If the teacher believes that a student needs special encouragementduring the lesson, a message can be recorded using the “New Messages”button.

[0014] A common feature in all of the above mentioned educationalsystems is that they rely almost exclusively on just one type of thecomputer program tutoring method or the personal teacher tutoring methodso that they do not fully realize the benefits of both methods. Further,none of these systems shows a computer-aided learning system for holdingseveral concurrent learning sessions with students, where each learningsession is selected by a teacher to be either an interactive learningsession where the teacher interacts with the student on a shared basisor a non-interactive learning session where the student worksindependently of the teacher.

[0015] Hence, there has been a long sought desire among educators todevelop a computer-assisted educational system that allows a balanceduse of both the computer program tutoring method and the personalteacher tutoring method. With the on going desire to globalization,there is a desire to deliver instructional material developed in onecountry, for example in the United States, internationally.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0016] Briefly, according to the present invention, a learning systemincludes a plurality of teacher and student stations for holding one ormore learning sessions between a teacher and one or more students. Aserver serves instructional material for creating a learning environmentduring the learning session, and a database stores at least one ofteacher and student attributes that relate to language ability. In thepresent invention, the instructional material is a computer generatedinstructional material that is produced based on the language ability ofthe student or the teacher.

[0017] According to some of the more detailed features of the presentinvention, the computer generated instructional material comprises atleast one of instructional software, an electronic textbook, a worksheet, a practice sheet, and a problem set. Also, the computer generatedinstructional material comprises a test for assessing at least one of askill gap or a lesson prescribed for addressing at least one of a skillgap.

[0018] In an exemplary embodiment, the computer generated instructionalmaterial is automatically created when a teacher and a student engage inan interactive practice session, while at least one other student isinvolved in a non-interactive learning session. The computer-generatedinstructional material can also be generated using a computer adaptiveassignment process.

[0019] According to some of the detailed features of the presentinvention, the database comprises at least one of a central database anda distributed database. Also, the database can be at least one of apublic school database and a private school database. The retrievedstudent attribute can include at least one of skill level, grade, ethnicbackground, age, language, character, past record, grade in a subject,and economic background, and the retrieved teacher attribute can includeat least one of a skill level, a subject proficiency level, an hourlyrate, geography, overtime requirement, and work schedule.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020]FIG. 1 is a diagram of a local area network (LAN) system accordingto one embodiment of the present invention.

[0021]FIG. 2 shows an exemplary teacher workstation display andthree-student work station displays being shared interactively accordingto the present invention.

[0022]FIG. 3 is an exemplary block diagram of a web-based learningsystem according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[0023]FIG. 4 is an exemplary functional block diagram of the system ofthe present invention.

[0024]FIG. 5 is an exemplary teacher screen for the system of thepresent invention.

[0025]FIG. 6 is an exemplary communications log section of an electronicteacher workbook according to the invention.

[0026]FIG. 7 is an exemplary instruction section from an electronicteacher workbook according to the present invention.

[0027]FIG. 8 is an exemplary screen display or page from the teacherworkbook according to the invention showing an example of instructionalmaterial to be sent to a student after selection from the instructionsection.

[0028]FIG. 9 shows an exemplary page of the electronic student workbookdisplaying the instructional material of FIG. 9.

[0029]FIG. 10 shows an exemplary math application in an electronicteacher workbook according to the one embodiment of the invention.

[0030]FIG. 11 shows an exemplary progress assessment report accessibleby a parent via a parent site.

[0031]FIG. 12 shows an exemplary session history accessible by a parentvia a parent site.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0032]FIG. 1 shows the simplest form of a learning system for holdinginteractive and non-interactive learning sessions according to thepresent invention by creating a suitably configured learningenvironment. The system is designed for use by a teacher and a number ofstudents over a local area network (LAN). The LAN includes a serverstation or any other type of controller 10 and client stations 1-6,which comprise teacher and student workstations. The teacher uses ateacher workstation 1, and the students use student workstations 2-5. Asused herein, instructional material include any data or software usefulin giving instructions. In an exemplary embodiment, the teacherworkstation 1 and the student workstations 2-5 are networked clientstations each with a pen-based tablet input and display. The teacher cansend selected instructional materials to each of the students over thenetwork. The teacher can also see what each student is doing on thedisplay of the teacher workstation 1 upon receipt of correspondingimages from the student workstations 2-5.

[0033] The server station 10 stores the instructional material alongwith other data in a suitably configured database (not shown). Thelearning environment within each learning session can comprise anyinstructional material or content, including learning workspaces in theform of student or teacher workbooks, shared whiteboards, and etc. Theinstructional material or content can also include instructionalsoftware, electronic text books, work sheets, practice sheets, problemsets, and etc. A learning environment for students can also includereference tools, such as dictionary, encyclopedia, thesaurus,calculator, and etc.

[0034] Even though FIG. 2 discloses the server station 10, anotherembodiment of the present invention is a peer-to-peer network. Apeer-to-peer network does not have a server and the teacher workstation1 is networked to student workstations directly without an interveningserver. In this peer-to peer embodiment, the teacher workstation 1 is acontroller that serves instructional material directly to studentstations without help of an intervening server for serving theinstructional material. Therefore, as herein defined, the term's serverstation and controller can be used interchangeably. The learning systemof the present invention can be used for any type of learning purpose inany organization including corporations, private or public schools,learning centers, firms, churches, governments, training classes,universities, colleges, etc. The instructional material can be onvarious topics including, school subjects, university class subjects,training materials, preparation courses, graphic design classes, etc.The subject can also cover any topic, for example, industrial,healthcare, academic, finance, transportation, legal, etc.

[0035]FIG. 2 shows an exemplary TEACHER DISPLAY with a display mode inwhich the teacher can interact with one or more students by using sharedwhiteboards 1-3. Even through FIG. 2 show only three student displays1-3; more student displays can be used in the present invention. Theshared white boards of the TEACHER DISPLAY are each assigned to adifferent student, as shown in FIG. 2. Each whiteboard can supportdisplaying of free-style handwriting on a tablet. At another displaymode, the TEACHER DISPLAY may display on the whole screen instructionalmaterial, which is to be assigned to students after the teacher reviewsthem.

[0036] During an interactive learning session, the teacher can assignthe same question to multiple students at the same time and work withthem interactively on a shared basis. Via an interactive voice channel,for example, the teacher can orally interact with selected studentsconcurrently. According to one aspect of the present invention,non-interactive sessions are held separately from interactive sessions.During non-interactive learning sessions, instructional material, whichcan be predefined, pre-designed, or canned instructional materials, ispresented to the students. As such, non-interactive learning sessions donot require teacher interactions. Therefore, the system of the inventionallows for a combination of interactive and non-interactive learningsessions to be held with a plurality of students, where a teacher canhold an interactive learning session with at least one student, whileother students engage in non-interactive learning sessions. The teachercan switch one or more students from interactive learning sessions tonon-interactive learning sessions and vice versa as the teacher sees fitto accommodate students' educational needs.

[0037]FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of a system that implements thepresent invention. According to this embodiment, the system of theinvention is implemented over a communication network that provideswired or wireless links with client stations 12 at remote locations. Theclient stations 12 can operate as teacher workstations, studentworkstations, guardian workstations, or director workstations.Preferably, standard protocols are utilized for the client stations 12to connect to one or more server stations 10 (or any other type ofcontroller). The network 16 can be any suitably configured network, suchas the Internet. The Internet is a collection of interconnected (publicand/or private) networks that are linked together by a set of standardprotocols to form a global, distributed network.

[0038] The preferred embodiment of the present invention in FIG. 3 usesa client-server-computing model for creating various learningenvironments during learning sessions, where students and teachersinteract with each other. Besides the Internet, the present inventioncan be implemented over any other types of networks such as corporateIntranets, LANs, WANs, etc. The students and teachers can utilize anywired and wireless devices that act as client workstations 12 for one ormore servers 10, which serve instructional material via the networks.The students, student guardians, teachers and directors may be requiredto go through a log-in session before engaging in learning sessions orreviewing information such as student grades, progress reports, and etc.Other arrangements that do not require a log-in session can also be usedin accordance with the present invention.

[0039] Under another embodiment, each client station 12 in use by astudent, guardian, teacher or director executes a network accessapplication program, such as a browser, for accessing the learningcenter servers 10. The system of FIG. 3 preferably uses a server-centricmodel that allows a user to use applications hosted on remote server 10on his or her client station 12. The benefit of the server-centric modelis that the client station 12 utilizes the server's memory and processorto run applications. This model resolves issues of limited memory andprocessor speed on client stations 12. Under yet another embodiment, thestudent and teacher workstations 12 can execute a locally storedlearning application program for creating a learning environment.

[0040] The system of FIG. 3 can have either a central or distributeddatabase system 24 that stores data relating to students, teachers,guardians, instructional materials, and etc; but the data can also bestored elsewhere within any storage medium that interacts within thesystem. The server 10, which is connected to the database system and theclient stations over the network 16, preferably performs most of thecentralized functions of the system, including creating learningenvironments during the learning sessions, generating and delivery ofelectronic workbooks and instructional materials, as well as performingdiagnostic assessment and prescriptive learning activities. In FIG. 3,the client stations 12 can be any client device that is used by anyoneinvolved in a learning activity, including a teacher, a student, aguardian, a director, and etc. Examples of such client stations 12include personal computers, mobile computers, notebooks, workstations,and etc. The client stations 12 operate under workstation operatingsystem, e.g., Windows or Mac OS operating systems. Other examples ofsuitable client stations 12 are personal digital assistant (PDAs) orpalmtop computers that operate under an appropriately configuredoperating system, such as Palm OS or Windows CE. The client stations 12are connected via either wireless network 18 or wired physical interface23. Preferably, the client stations 12 perform real-time collection ofstudent assessment information and include visual displays for providingvisual interface with users.

[0041] The client stations 12 are also capable of communicatinginformation in any form, including audio and video form, or in any otherform conceivable by one skilled in the art. Each student workstationsupports an interactive channel for holding a learning session with ateacher workstation. The interactive channel is a communication mediumfrom one client workstation to another client station (e.g., teacher orstudent workstations). The interactive channel can be formed directlybetween two stations or by various networks including an Internet,Intranet, LAN, WAN, and etc. Each interactive channel can supportdifferent ways of communication by transmitting information in variousformats, including audio, video, picture, sound, digital characters,etc.

[0042] In wireline communication, the server 10 preferably communicateswith the wired client stations 12 through the network 16 and throughnetwork layer interfaces 19, 21, and 23. It should be noted that thenetwork used in connection with the present invention can use any one ofopen- or proprietary-network standards, including the well-knownEthernet and TCP/IP protocols can be used.

[0043] For wireless communication, any wireless communication standardsthat support defined protocols can be used in the present invention.Examples of such protocols include GSM, IS-136, IS-95, Bluetooth, iDEN,Flex, ReFlex, IEEE 802.11 and etc. Under this arrangement, the server 10communicates with client station 12 via a wireless network 18, but otheravailable ways of wireless communication are also possible. Wirelessclient stations 12 can include mobile phones, Palm Pilots, and PersonalDigital Assistants 18 (PDAs). The wireless network interface 20 operatesas an interface between the wireless network 18 and the network 16. Thewireless network interface 20 primarily serves to provide domain nameresolution and serves to translate between the protocols and formats ofthe wireless network 18 and the network 16. The wireless server 22provides user accessible information through the wireless network. Thewireless server 22 can also retrieve content and information located onother servers and databases.

[0044] The databases 24, which are accessible by the server 10, canstore various information related to learning activities in accordancewith the learning system of the present invention. As stated above, theclient stations 12 may include a personal computer, handheldcommunication devices, or any other devices capable of communicatingwith the databases 24 through the system of FIG. 3.

[0045] Various other ways, including a web-site access and an Intranetaccess, can allow access for teachers, directors, and students tocommunicate appropriate information. The teacher workstation is thelaunch pad to the learning environment that initiates a timer countdownfor each learning session. The teacher workstation can allow access tovarious electronic student binder applications to which a teacher-onlypermission is applied for displaying information about students inupcoming sessions. The teacher workstation can allow access to teacherschedule data with links to a scheduling database that stores schedulingdata. Preferably, the present invention supports numerous web-sites,including a teacher site, a director site, a student site, and aguardian or parent site. For example, the teacher can interact with ateacher site via the teacher workstation. Similarly, other participantscan use their workstations to interact with a corresponding website.

[0046] The student site can be accessible to students and may include anage appropriate graphical screen that is displayed based on studentattribute information, after a student logs into the site from a studentworkstation. Similar to the teacher site, the student member web sitecan be a launch pad to a learning environment during a learning sessionwith a timer count down. The site also has links for educational gamesthat students can play, while waiting for the start of learningsessions. The parent site includes information on student's grades,progress reports, appointments, schedules, attendance, and etc, whichcan be accessed after an authorized parent logs in.

[0047] Referring to FIG. 4, a block diagram of operation layers used bynetworked workstations and servers in the preferred implementation ofthe present invention is shown. Both the embodiments employing a serverto facilitate interaction between various workstations and theembodiment employing the peer-to-peer network without a server can usethe operation layers in FIG. 4. The system in FIG. 4 includes studentand guardian workstations 32 as well as teacher and directorworkstations 34. The workstations 32 and 34 execute learning applicationprograms for engaging in instructional activities during learningsessions. The learning application program running on a studentworkstation 32 enables a student to interact with a teacher during anon-interactive or an interactive learning session. The learningapplication program running on the teacher workstation 34 allows ateacher to engage plural students in multiple learning sessions. Variousapplication programs for supporting the operation layers, including auser interface layer 30, collaboration layer 36, a back-end applicationlayer 38, a database layer 40, an operations layer 42 and an operationstaff layer 44 can be run by any of the server, workstations 32 andworkstations 34 or any combination of them. The user interface layer 30is responsible for presenting information to the teachers, students, andparents. The user interface layer 30 also communicates with a systemdelivery and prescription generation software within the back-endapplication layer 38, which performs assessment delivery andprescription generation functions within the learning system of theinvention. The back-end application layer 38 also manages contentdelivery, scheduling, customer relationship management (CRM), incentive,credit card processing and billing functions.

[0048] The learning system according to one aspect of the presentinvention can support an incentive-based system for improvement,participation and effort during learning sessions as well as link tothird party vendor sites for redeeming the token balances. As to themanagement of incentives in the back-end application layer 38, incentivecontrollers (teacher stations or servers) gives the students incentivesfor improvement, participation and effort during learning sessions. Forexample, a learning environment interface can deliver electronic tokensto students who satisfy defined incentive criteria for given learningsessions. When students satisfy the incentive criteria, incentivecontrollers informs the students of a defined number of tokens awardedby displaying them on student workstations. After the session closes,the number of awarded tokens are stored in databases of the incentivecontrollers for tracking purposes. For example, the number of earnedtokens can be added to a stored number already in a database.Preferably, the earned token by the students can be redeemed at theweb-site of a third party vendor, for such items as toys, books, games,software, and etc. The token balances stored in a student profile can beautomatically transferred to the third party vendor so that the dataentry by the student upon redemption is minimized.

[0049] The database layer 40 manages information storage functionsrelated to content management, including curriculum, web-site(internet/intranet) content, and other knowledge base information. Thedatabase layer 40 can also be a repository for operational dataincluding the participants, schedules, assessment results, and studentcurriculum. Data warehousing functions and statistical analysis of theassessment and learning data are also performed by the database layer40. The database layer 40 also manages the knowledge base comprising,supplemental educational content, technical support, and customerservice information.

[0050] The operations layer 42 can provide for content managementworkflow, including the curriculum development, editing and reviewingthe development information. The operation layer 42 manages marketingand CRM (customer relationship management) workflow. This layer alsoprovides for lead/prospect follow-up functions, technical supportproblems, and product inquiries. The operation layer 42 interfaces withoperational staff layer 44 that comprises personal tech support,customer service and analyst information.

[0051] The collaboration layer 36 provides for routing of informationover the network for sessions and load balancing of the teacher's aswell as skills matching. Also included as functions of the collaborationlayer 36 is collaboration for shared whiteboard and chat functions thatmay be required for engaging the learning session in accordance with thepresent invention.

[0052] In relation to the skill matching function, the collaborationlayer 36 preferably can select teachers to teach a group of studentsbased on teacher attributes stored in a teacher attribute database. Ateacher selection controller (e.g., a server) can select a teacher basedon a teacher or student attribute. For example, a teacher proficient ina particular subject or language can be selected to teach targetedstudents that requires commensurate level of teaching proficiency orlanguage. In this way, more proficient teachers in math or reading canbe assigned to teach less proficient students in these subjects.Alternatively, French speaking teachers anywhere in the world withaccess to the Internet can be selected to teach students (e.g., inGermany, UK, or US) in French.

[0053] In relation to the load balancing, the collaboration layer 36preferably uses the student and teacher attributes to balance teacherutilization loads statically or dynamically as such loads develop. Forexample, the teacher utilization load can also be balanced by theteacher selection controller in terms of such teacher attributes ashourly rate, geography, overtime requirement, work schedule, and etc.The teacher utilization can also be balanced in terms of such studentattributes such as skill level, teacher preference, grade, ethnicbackground, age, language, character, past record, grade in a subject,and economic background. In this way, the collaboration layer 36flexibly (either dynamically or statically) utilizes teacher resourcesby assigning teachers to students that fit a teacher load balancingrequirement. For example, teachers in areas that do not experienceteacher shortages are used in areas where there is a teacher shortage.The total number of utilized teachers at a given time is adjusted by theserver based on teacher attributes, student attributes, the total numberof current learning sessions, and the total number of students currentlyin learning sessions. The present system performs a capacity planning bydetermining how many sessions are to be held during a given time. Thesystem then determines how many teachers are currently assigned forteaching during that given time. The system uses this data to determinehow many more teachers are needed. By performing the capacity planning,the system arranges for scheduling more teachers during specific timesahead where teacher shortages are expected. Real-time assignments occurbased on teacher attributes, student attributes, and system's physicalrequirements when teachers and students log in for learning sessions ata particular time.

[0054] Through the operation layers of FIG. 4, the teacher and studentworkstations 32 and 34 can interact with each other with or without anintervening server. Various application programs for supporting theoperations layers can be run by any of the server, workstations 32 andworkstations 34 or any combination of them. The learning center server10 can execute the user interface layer 30 to interface with clientstations. As shown, the user interface layer 30 is capable of receivinginput from multiple student workstations and multiple teacherworkstations.

[0055] In one embodiment, each workstation 32 or 34 can be a personalcomputer capable of running software or terminals with display and inputdevices without much processing power. As stated above, thecollaboration layer 36 is responsible for routing and collaboratingservices offered by the present invention. The collaboration layer 36allows utilization of Voice Over Internet Protocols (VOIP) standards inmaintaining interactive channels for transmitting audio and videoinformation. VOIP standards allow use of a uniform voice to student. Aninteractive channel formed of one or more networks is used for holdingan interactive session between a teacher and a student. The interactivesession allows the teacher and the student to interact with each otherthrough workbooks and a shared whiteboard during a learning session. Ashared whiteboard is a shared display space reserved by the system forconducting interactive learning activities using various tools such asinteractive highlighters, drawing and graphical tools, and etc. Thecollaboration layer 36 also supports chat, e-mail, and other Internetfeatures.

[0056] The use of a uniform voice to each student via the collaborationlayer 36 is advantageous in maintaining continuity between sessions andduring sessions when different teachers are utilized to teach thestudent. The present invention can modify the real voices of theteachers so that the learning sessions are conducted using a uniformvoice, as perceived by the student. For example, a voice of a teachercan be synthesized at client stations and transmitted using a uniformvoice based on Voice over IP protocols. The voice conversion can occurat either the client stations or the server. Alternatively, atext-to-speech technology can be used during learning sessions. Thistechnique allows transformation of texts into audio during learningsessions. Texts typed at one of a teacher station and a student stationis converted to speech and transmitted over the network in a uniformvoice using the Voice over IP technology.

[0057] The back-end layer 38 tracks various activities and inputs ofeach student and records student input data, either automaticallythrough the student workstations 32, or manually as results of teacherinputs from a teacher workstation 34. As will be explained in detailbelow, the back-end application layer 38 provides for deliveries ofstudent instructional materials and workbooks in accordance with anautomatically assessed student profile of each student. The back-endapplication layer 38 is also responsible for assessments and diagnosesof students to generate student profiles. The student profiles are thenused by the system to generate electronic student workbooks orinstructional materials personalized for each student. In the automatedassessments and diagnoses of students, each student receivesinstructions directly from a computer through an interactive channelformed of one or more networks.

[0058] The workstations 32 and 34 can be pen-based, equipped with anaudio headset, camera, mouse and keyboard for communicating texts,visual and audio information with each other. In this way, for example,each student takes a battery of tests at a student workstation 32. Theassessment tests are generally designed to identify student abilities toperform different tasks or a mastery of certain learning objectives orskills. The assessment tests are scored and analyzed by the back-endlayer 38 to generate a student profile which is utilized by the systemof the present invention to prescribe a learning program suited for thatstudent and deliver electronic student workbooks and learning materialsto student workstations 32. Ongoing assessments of students'performances during learning sessions are used to expand and updatestudent profiles. Results of initial and ongoing assessment tests areused in creating instructional materials comprising lessons prescribedfor addressing identified skill gaps of the student.

[0059] Once the battery of tests is completed, the system assesses thetests and provides a student profile. A director of education (DE), someother manager or supervisor, or a teacher then preferably evaluates theprofile. Notes and comments can be entered in teacher workbooks that aregenerated based on the student profile data. Such additions to teacherworkbooks are used by instructional material controller (teacherstations or servers) in generating student workbooks or deliverinstructional materials. As stated before, instructional materialsinclude instructional software, practice sheets, electronic books, worksheets, practice sheets, problem sets, and reference tools, such asdictionary, encyclopedia, thesaurus, calculator, and etc.

[0060] The back-end application layer 38 is also responsible fordelivering instructional materials to a user interface layer 30. Teacheror student workbooks or instructional materials are automaticallygenerated by computers based on statistical analyses of one or morestudent profiles. Student workbooks can also be generated with teacherinputs using student profile data.

[0061] The back-end application layer 38 also tracks deliveries ofinstructional materials to student workstations for charge calculationpurposes. As such, the back-end application layer 38 also performscredit card processing and billing functions, for example, on a sessionby session basis, time or other criteria.

[0062] An important feature of the present invention is that teachersand students can carry on learning sessions from any available networkedworkstations as long as their access rights can be verified via log-inprocesses. For example, teacher would log in at the start of a session.This establishes the rights and privileges of the teacher.

[0063]FIG. 5 shows an exemplary teacher screen after logging in. Thescreen allows a teacher to select a certain number of students in anylocal or remote locations. The teacher enters student names at theteacher screen of FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, the teacher has touched the nameCarl Goughnour with her pen. From that point in time, the teacher mayselect other students at other local or remote workstations to conductlearning sessions with them.

[0064] After selecting several students in the screen of FIG. 5, theteacher can hold multiple learning sessions with the students. One ormore students or groups of students can engage in separatenon-interactive learning sessions, while the teacher is engaged in atleast one interactive session with another student or a group ofstudents. As stated before, the interactive learning session, which canbe held separately from the non-interactive sessions, is an interactivesession in which the teacher and one or more students interact orotherwise collaborate on instructional material on a shared time basis.After an interactive session, the teacher may assign other instructionalmaterials for non-interactive sessions by calling up an exercise in theteacher workbook and then forwarding the exercise or material to astudent workbook for the student to do unassisted. When a teacher is notdone with working with a student, other students could continue withnon-interactive learning sessions by using student workbooks, which canbe assigned manually by the teacher or assigned automatically by thesystem of the present invention. Upon completion of various stages oflearning sessions, student workbooks may be marked and inputsautomatically stored in the database for student profiles.

[0065]FIG. 6 shows an exemplary communication log screen for a studentfor viewing by a teacher. The top portion of the screen, approximatelytop 5%, is a status section. This screen displays the current student(Carl Goughnour), grade level (Grade 6.1), program (MA1), date and time(Sep. 11, 1997 at 11:00 am).

[0066] The remaining portion of the screen of FIG. 6 follows theworkbook metaphor and displays a section of the electronic teacherworkbook. Tabs are used on the left and right sides of a given sectionto switch between various teacher workbook sections. FIG. 6 shows tabsfor Communication Log, Goals, Instruction, and Basic Facts sections.Entries on the right hand page of the notebook reflect the currentsession. Previous session information is given on the left-hand page.Current session information can be entered on the right-hand page by theteacher. The current session information is used to update the studentprofile. By clicking on the “Goals” tab of the teacher workbook shown inFIG. 6, the Goals and Special Notes section of the teacher workbookshown in FIG. 6 appears.

[0067]FIG. 7 shows an exemplary instruction section of a teacherworkbook, where skills identified from analyses of student profiles asareas to be improved are displayed for the teacher. The ‘View’ button atthe bottom of the screen in FIG. 7 allows the teacher to view a selectedinstructional material before sending it to the student's workstation.

[0068] The present system can automatically generate a number ofinstructional materials for a student based on the student profile ofthe student to address skill gaps of the student. Appropriateinstructional material commensurate with learning levels and attributesof a student can be automatically created. A teacher for a particularsession can view a list of available instructional materialautomatically generated for the session and select the ones he or shewants to assign to the student. The teacher can assign the selectedinstructional material to the student from the teacher workstation.Alternatively, the assignment can also be done by a computer. Forexample, the back-end application layer 38 in conjunction with adatabase of a controller (server or a teacher workstation) can createunique original lessons with teacher or computer assigned tasks foraddressing particular skill gaps. The computer assigned tasks can begenerated using a computer adaptive assignment process that relies onretrieved student attributes and profile data. The student attributes orprofile data can be retrieved from a database and include variousstudent related information, such as skill levels, grades, ethnicbackgrounds, ages, languages, characters, past records, scores, gradesin one or more subjects, economic backgrounds, or any other informationuseful in teaching students.

[0069] Existing instructional materials can be customized for eachstudent based on his or her profile data stored in the system of thepresent invention. For example, based on a language identificationparameter, which can be the ethnic background of a student, stored in astudent profile database, the present invention can presentinstructional material for a particular subject, e.g. math, in thenative language of the student. Using one or more of access, interfaceand integration application layers, the system of the present inventioncan access other student information databases, e.g., public and privateschool system databases, to determine/retrieve student profile data andto transform the existing instructional material commensurate with theinstructional needs of the students. For example, 3^(rd) grade mathproblem sets developed for English speaking students can be transformedto problems in Spanish for Hispanic students.

[0070] In order to determine whether the system of the present inventionis working properly, accurate records are necessary. To this end, thesystem can allow for automated record keeping, storage and analysis.Records may also be kept on a global basis in order to evaluate thesystem effectiveness for a large number of students. Statisticalinformation and analysis may be kept, which is useful in evaluatingspecific instructional materials assembled in the workbooks andrelationship of the instructional materials to particular skills. It isimportant to identify which instructional materials or methods work forteaching a particular concept to students of a particular skill, aparticular age, or certain demographic or other characteristics. Thefeedback mechanism of the system of the present invention can allow forconstant improvement of the entire system. Instructional materials canbe analyzed for effectiveness at the same time that students' progressesare noted.

[0071]FIG. 8 shows an exemplary teacher screen showing an automatedexercise designed to teach basic math. From the screen of FIG. 8, theteacher has options to send the materials to student workbooks bypressing “Send to Student”, get answers from the student by pressing“Get Answers”, score the answers by pressing “Collect Score”, or returnto the instruction session in FIG. 7 by pressing “Return to Prev.”

[0072]FIG. 9 shows an exemplary worksheet of a student workbook whichdisplays the instructional material transferred to the student from FIG.8. The student can answer the problems by handwriting on the screen. Inthe meantime, the teacher can concurrently work with a second student byturning to a section of the teacher workbook devoted to the secondstudent and supplying instructional materials at a grade or learninglevels appropriate to the second student as determined by the student'sprofile.

[0073] When it is time to review an exercise of the first student, theteacher can call up the work sheet from the student workbook of thefirst student to the teacher workstation 34 where it may be evaluated.Both the student and the teacher may look at the worksheet on the sharedwhiteboard designated for the student. The teacher may call up correctanswers for comparison with the student's answers and discuss theanswers orally or in writing. The teacher can also amend the studentprofile.

[0074]FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary application in a teacher workbookfor mastering addition, subtraction, multiplication and division tables.The teacher will select addition, subtraction, multiplication ordivision problems, by touching the appropriate symbol on the left-handpage of the notebook. In FIG. 10, addition has been selected. Theteacher may also assign particular addition problems, by touching theappropriate square on the right hand page in FIG. 10. For example, ifthe square at the intersection of 0 and 1 is selected, the student isgiven the problem “0+1=?.” Any number of problems can be assigned, butif none are assigned, then the program will assign problems randomly.During and after each learning session, student inputs arescored/analyzed to create reports for parents.

[0075]FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary progress assessment reportaccessible by a director or a parent via a parent site. The directors orparents with access authority can access the present learning system viaany networked customer stations to view the reports, which list/analyzestudent improvements, student performances compared to other students,actual test scores, charts showing student progresses, identified skillgaps that need further improvements, comments by teachers, recommendedreading exercises or activities for students between learning sessions,etc.

[0076]FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary session history accessible by adirector or a parent via a parent site. The directors or parents withaccess authority can view comments by teachers to determine how studentsperformed during previous learning sessions. For a predetermined periodof time after each learning session, teachers can enter their commentson student performances.

[0077] From the foregoing, it would be appreciated that the presentinvention provides an educational system that is cost effective byallowing a teacher to teach several students at the same time but stillgive individual attention to each student. Present invention alsoprovides individualized educational sessions geared for each studentbased on the student's skill, educational goals and background withouthaving to incur the cost of employing a dedicated teacher for thestudent and manual tests/assessments of the student's skill, educationalgoals and background.

[0078] While the invention has been described with reference to severalparticular embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will be able tomake the various modifications to the described embodiments of theinvention without departing from the true spirit and scope of theinvention.

1. A learning system, comprising: a plurality of teacher and studentstations for holding one or more learning sessions between a teacher andone or more students; a server that serves instructional material forcreating a learning environment during a learning session; and adatabase that stores at least one of teacher and student attributes thatrelate to a language ability, wherein the instructional material is acomputer generated instructional material that is produced based on thelanguage ability.
 2. The learning system of claim 1, wherein thecomputer generated instructional material comprises at least one ofinstructional software, an electronic text book, a work sheet, apractice sheet, and a problem set.
 3. The learning system of claim 1,wherein the computer generated instructional material comprises a testfor assessing at least one of a skill gap.
 4. The learning system ofclaim 1, wherein the computer generated instructional material comprisesa lesson prescribed for addressing at least one of a skill gap.
 5. Thelearning system of claim 1, wherein the computer generated instructionalmaterial is automatically created when a teacher and a student engage inan interactive practice session, while at least one other student isinvolved in a non-interactive learning session.
 6. The learning systemof claim 1, wherein the computer-generated instructional material isgenerated using a computer adaptive assignment process.
 7. The learningsystem of claim 1, wherein the database comprises at least one of acentral database and a distributed database.
 8. The learning system ofclaim 1, wherein the database comprises at least one of a public schooldatabase and a private school database.
 9. The learning system of claim1, wherein the retrieved student attribute comprises at least one ofskill level, grade, ethnic background, age, language, character, pastrecord, grade in a subject, and economic background.
 10. The learningsystem of claim 1, wherein the retrieved teacher attribute comprises atleast one of a skill level, a subject proficiency level, an hourly rate,geography, overtime requirement, and work schedule.